CBS plans 24-hour net news channel

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CBS News has announced plans to create a 24-hour on-demand
internet network that bypasses cable television and could transform
one of the oldest US broadcast news operations.

The move aims to transform CBS News into a "multi-platform"
operation that would be available to internet users worldwide, with
news and many other features available on demand.

"This represents a significant shift for CBS News," its
president Andrew Heyward said.

"We are redefining the mission of CBS News and the people who
work here to meet the demands of a 24-hour digital universe."

The company said it would make a "significant investment" in CBS
News and its CBSNews.com website as part of a strategy designed to
offer breaking news, free broadband-quality video and a variety of
news programming.

CBS said it was making the move amid projections homes connected
to high-speed internet or "broadband" would equal or surpass homes
serviced by cable and satellite by 2010.

Additionally, it said broadband delivery systems were improving
to make video over the internet equal to that of television and
many people were looking for news on the web at all hours, not just
at the time of a scheduled newscast.

"CBS News will move from a primarily television and radio
news-based operation to a 24-hour, on-demand news service,
available across many platforms," said a statement from CBS, which
is a unit of media giant Viacom but is in the process of being spun
off in a division of the company.

"This major expansion of CBSNews.com is designed to capture an
audience that is increasingly looking for news and information at
all times of the day, not just during scheduled periods, and using
the internet for that purpose," said Larry Kramer, president of CBS
Digital Media.

Plans for the on-demand broadband network call for a blog called
"Public Eye" that will offer "greater openness and transparency
into the newsgathering process" and The Eye Box, a video player
featured on the CBSNews.com homepage that will make available more
than 25,000 clips and video that has yet to be seen on the
television network, CBS said.

CBS News also plans to find ways to utilise its global personnel
and newsgathering resources to "provide exclusive, original
reporting and commentary around the clock".